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Mark Hinchliffe·
Gear/accessoriesHelmets
··7 Comments·1 min read

How to wear glasses with a motorcycle helmet

Flying Eyes glasses sunglasses eyes
Flying Eyes pilot sunglasses

If you wear sunglasses or prescription glasses you will know of the niggling problems caused by wearing them with a motorcycle helmet.

Some people wear contact lenses while riding, but be careful as they can dislodge in high winds and on bumpy roads. You could also get your eyes lasered.

But neither of these will protect your eyes from dust, grit, glare and harmful UV rays.

In which case you could install a tinted visor or wear goggles, some of which can even have prescription lenses fitted!

But if that doesn’t solve your problems, we have a few tips:

Correct glassesGoggles glasses eye protection

The best glasses are those with straight and thin arms, not arms that bend behind your ear or have thick sides.

These are not only difficult to get into the sides of your helmet, but they also can irritate on a long trip and cause headaches.

Motorcycle glasses with foam gaskets to keep out the wind and dust are great.

However, any good pair of close-fitting spectacles will be fine so long as they fit properly under your helmet.

We like Flying Eyes pilot sunglasses which have thin and flexible arms to easily squeeze into your helmet.

They can also be made up to a prescription and come in four models (below).

Correct helmet

When trying on a helmet in a store — and we always recommend you try it on rather than buying online — make sure they have cutouts in the temples to fit glasses. Most do, but some don’t.

Open-faced and flip-up helmets are easier for putting your glasses on than a full-face helmet.

Some open faced or flip-up helmets even allow you to put your glasses on before putting on your helmet.

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Correct fit

Don’t even bother taking off unless your sunglasses or spectacles are in the right position.

If they slide down your nose because they are to loose or pinch your nose because they are too tight, then they can become a dangerous distraction.

It’s worth spending an extra few minutes wriggling them into the right position before closing your visor.

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Mark Hinchliffe
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7 Comments

  1. I use a full face helmet with prescription lenses in Oakley Coin frames. They are titanium with thin straight arms that are easy to slide in after I put on my helmet.
    After two years they are still in wonderful condition, and they are so light to wear.
    Not cheap, but a great glasses frame.

  2. The biggest problem I have with glasses is that most helmets deflect my breath right back onto my glasses. It’s not so much a problem on warm days on the open road, but it’s annoying when stationary or filtering slowly. In foul weather and cold conditions it’s a constant problem. The big breath deflectors designed to keep my visor dry make matters worse and chin curtains are suicide.

    What does work remarkably well are respro Foggy masks and clones thereof that velcro into the helmet and form a good seal around your nose, keeping your breath well away from both visor and glasses.

  3. I find to keep dust out I need a contact patch at the bottom of eye wear. The aviator styles shown above will not prevent dust getting in. I generally use safety glasses as they are impact rated.

  4. I spent a lot of money on the narrower version of the Flying Eyes pilot, prescription, aviator style, glasses. Although they have thin and flexible arms that are easy to get on your ears with a helmet on, even the narrow version is rediculously wide and will not fit under any goggles that I own. The arms do work well with my noise cancelling aviation headsets, but then most of my glasses have thin wire or flat metal arms which also work well under my aviation headsets, making the Flying Eyes a waste of money.

  5. As you mentioned, the best sunglasses to wear with the helmet are ones with straight, thin arms. My dad just found out that he need bifocals, but he doesn’t know how to do that while on his motorcycle. I will have to show him the tips here, and see if any of these options will help him be more comfortable.

  6. I have found that if you take one leg off a pair of glasses they are easy to put on with a full face helmet. It was very hard to put on glasses with both legs an I have broken a few pairs so I have a few 1 legged ones. Remember to take a proper pair as well.

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